Why Lead Generation Matters To Your Business

by | Apr 10, 2017

Why Lead Generation Matters To Your Business

According to data from Forbes, lead generation has become a key operational element across the corporate sector with 85% of B2B marketers surveyed in 2016 saying it was their most important marketing goal. Below is some more information about this topic.

Lead Generation- An Overview

Lead generation refers to the act of cultivating interest in a specific product or service. In most cases, lead generation occurs online although it can occur offline as well. Generating leads is important to businesses for several reasons. Firstly, there are literally millions of brands seeking the attention of more or less the same consumer demographics. For instance, millennials are highly coveted by brands because they are more tech savvy than other consumers and their purchasing power is expected to eclipse that of generation X and baby boomers, according to an eMarketer report. Due to this, brands use lead generation strategies to ensure they remain visible and relevant to consumers. Lead generation has also become popular because it enables businesses to quantify a wide range of transactional parameters including churn rates.

Traditional Lead Generation and Its Failures

Traditionally, brands used strategies such as telemarketing as well as television and radio ad placement to generate leads. Although these strategies work to some extent, they have several glaring shortcomings. Firstly, it is impossible to determine with a high degree of accuracy the number of people reached via TV/radio ads. In comparison, brands can accurately determine the audience reached via social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

In fact, the level of granularity afforded by modern lead generation enables brands to determine the exact moment consumers saw a product/service ad, interacted with a landing page, or made a purchase. Besides this, traditional lead generation tends to favor organizations with considerable financial muscle. A good example is the cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad, which rose from an average of $40,000 in 1967 to $5 million in 2016, according to research done by Ad Age. Even in advanced economies such as the American economy, only a few well-heeled companies can afford to shell millions for a 30-second ad. Finally, traditional lead generation channels do not support accurate consumer segmentation.

Modern Lead Generation

Modern lead generation efforts leverage the power of the World Wide Web to reach consumers via social networking sites, email, video hosting sites, and blogs. In fact, this approach has borne the 360-degree customer view philosophy. In simple words, 360-degree customer view refers to collecting data from disparate sources and aggregating it to gain a more wholesome understanding of each consumer or an entire target audience. Data points are sourced from social media platforms, market research firms, online communities, search engines, landing pages, and consumer feedback platforms.

With this in mind, the most common lead generation channels include email, content marketing, eBooks/eNewsletters, visual content (image, video), social media, search engine optimization (SEO), and search engine marketing (SEM). Research carried out by Econsultancy in 2016 found that 22% of business were satisfied with their SEO conversion rates. Brands that rank high on local search results benefit immensely because 72% of consumers who search for local content visit a store within five miles of their location. Data from a Marketo survey shows that 68% of B2B brands use landing pages to generate leads. In general, market data published by Demand Metric Research Corporation shows that the most common lead generation strategies include email marketing, (78%), content marketing (67%), and event marketing (73%).

A survey done by Forrester Consulting in the third quarter of 2016 found that 32% of companies have automated lead generation. While this is a viable option, a better option would be to hire a company that can offer tailor-made lead generation strategies. A good example of such a company is Impact Marketing LLC. Organizations that fail to invest in lead generating solutions are likely to grow at a slower pace than savvy competitors.

Conclusion

Businesses that want to remain ahead of competitors must create innovative ways of acquiring and retaining customers. Those that fail to do so will end up losing market share to competitors. Digital assets that are widely used to generate leads include email, video content, curated social media posts, and landing pages. Contact Intercept Marketing LLC today for all your lead generation needs.

8 Comments

  1. If you’re building a business website, your main goal is to convert leads. I couldn’t agree more with the facts above. To stay ahead of your competitors, a lead generation site would work wonders for you. Great post.

    Reply
    • Capture, engage with relevant content then convert and nurture forever. There’s a true science to doing it, those who apply the knowledge correctly get the privilege of helping many, many more clients.

      Reply
  2. Ability to adapt is a crucial factor for any business for it to last. Modern day lead generation can help you with that. Boost your brand, boost your income.

    Reply
  3. Interesting article. A useful information and a great eye-opener for those who cannot fully understand Lead Generation for effective business growth. If you’re a business owner, it’s mandatory to know these kinds of stuff.

    Reply
  4. The essence of client SEO at the end of the day is to acquire new leads and business opportunities. It doesn’t matter if you rank 1,000 keywords on the first page, if your site doesn’t convert customers, having a positive ROI is literally impossible. One of the most important thing is to have targeted leads because they tend to convert more. Great post.

    Reply
  5. Countless companies have skyrocketed their revenue by hiring an SEO company to do the marketing for them. Just make sure your business can be scaled with the blast of incoming leads that’s coming to you when you do lead generation. Also, not all SEO companies are built the same. Choose one that has a good track record and reputation.

    Reply
  6. You need to target the right people in your marketing campaign, to avoid overspending and maintaining the quality of your leads, especially if you’re doing PPC and SEO. Doing proper keyword research with buyer’s intent is complicated and needs some time to get used to. Ranking them also takes some skill. You can save some time and effort by hiring a good SEO company.

    Reply
  7. Some people doing SEO tend to forget the most important part of the campaign, the leads. Even if you rank first place, if your site doesn’t convert, it’s still worth nothing. So, focus on making your site optimized for lead generation too. Once you have the SEO rolling, I’m pretty sure that you’ll be flooded with customers.

    Reply

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